On July 1, Jacqueline Dittmore and her husband, Christophe Molitor, celebrated two years of bringing a heaping slice of French culinary joie de vivre to downtown Melbourne in the shape of Jacqueline’s Bakery. The patisserie, boulangerie and cafe fastidiously replicates the flavors of France that Dittmore and Molitor so well know.

Dittmore is not your typical French baker, as you will see.

Question: What is your history, Jacqueline?

Answer: I’m originally from Canton, Ohio, where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is, but I lived in France for 20 years. I got my bachelor’s degree in French and spent a year in France on a study abroad program for my master’s degree. I met my first husband there, and I moved to France, where I settled and got an MBA.

After I split with my husband, I worked in the pharmaceutical field. I met Christophe in France in 2011. He owned a transport business at the time.

A: I wasn’t thrilled with what I was doing, and Christophe was also ready for a change. Christophe and I were both into gastronomy, so I decided to go into the culinary field. I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and earned my Grand Diploma in cuisine and pastry. It was a grueling eight months of 12-hour days.

Once I went to school, I knew I wanted to start a bakery. I also signed up for state certification in artisan bread baking from Ferrandi (another renowned culinary school in Paris), which I finished in 2015.